Free Chocolate!!!!

An idea that I've come across before, but never instituted til lately was the "self- gleaning" idea.
It goes like this: Frying up hamburger for tacos? Take out 2 Tbsp, you'll never notice. Put it in a baggie in the freezer (before adding spices). Frying hamburger again for making hamburger gravy to put over rice? (don't knock it til you try it), take another 2 Tbsp...you get the idea, til you have enough for a meal. It really doesn't take too many times, and it's like a free meal. I used to think it was dumb, but I decided to test it with my chocolate chips, since I make chocolate chip cookies (ahem) a lot. I'd put the asked for amount in the bowl, then take some out by hand and toss them in a container and stash it in the cupboard. I didn't miss them from the recipe, and it only took a few batches of doing this to get enough to make a whole batch of cookies. It's like FREE chocolate!! And who can pass that up?

Pantry Purging

Well, it's that time of year again. Time to start growing things and putting fresh, bountiful harvests away for the winter (oh, and enjoying lots and lots of it while it's still fresh). We had our first CSA meeting of the year, and the lettuces, spinach, and root vegetables are in the ground (covered, of course, since there is still threat of frost). The asparagus should be on soon, in fact, our next meeting is April 4th...hmmm, so exciting!

I'll get into the CSA details more on another post.

Today I'm focusing on living on our bounty from last year and clearing some space for the new.
Many of my other "bloggy" friends have been commenting on how taking a week and eating out of their pantry has saved them a good deal of money over time (meaning, pick a week to NOT grocery shop, and glean from yourself). For example, if you plan on spending $60/week on groceries, but only shop 7 out of 8 weeks in the year, you're really spending $52.50. I have a guess that with all the farm produce we get from our CSA (for $200/year!) we're spending a little less than that. I've never sat down and calculated how much we spend a week on what we eat, I just know that our storage is growing and the budget isn't changing much. I'm curious now. Perhaps I'll do that on another post.

The reason I'm posting this is that I need to be accountable. I need to promise myself that I will not run to the store for every little thing (given it's so easy for us, with Martins & CVS only oh...three blocks away?). So, I'm following my friends' examples, and posting what we ate (plus, then you can see how often I bake, which means I might bake less...might.)

Sunday
Breakfast & Lunch for the adults: n/a--it's our fast Sunday
Kids breakfast: cereal & milk, oh, and Chayce wanted an egg, so I gave her that as well.
Kids' snack: baby carrots--I cannot believe how they fought over the # of carrots each recieved. Personally, if it's not chocolate, I don't fight for it, but obviously baby carrots are amazing.
Granola bars in the car on the way home.

Dinner: Chicken Curry. Pretty mild, due to the fact that our dinner guests weren't spicy fans...well, let me rephrase that. One was, one wasn't. Oh, and he's now indebted to me because I got his wife to eat curry and she wouldn't before, since she'd been burned by it. Now, he's looking for his crockpot curry recipe for me, and I'll share it if it's good. Plus, they brought AMAZINGLY YUMMY brownies. Can't beat that.

Monday
Breakfast: Cereal again, in a hurry due to needing to take Zac to get glasses fixed.
Snack: granola bars (because I like them!)

Lunch: grapes. Lots of grapes, out of the crisper. Yum. And leftover brownies. Cheese.

Dinner: Apple and gorgonzola pizza (I got on clearance at Target last week for $4. ) I won't be buying that again. Not that the flavor wasn't good, but the kids complained about the smell in the house from the stinky-cheese. Made me want to go get the Stinky-Cheese Man from the library.
A sausage pizza as well, that they actually enjoyed. If I had to pick, though, I'd have chosed Digiorno. Those are cheaper at Aldi, and more filling. If I'd have known how very un-filling these were going to be, I'd have left them at the store.

A green salad, purchased last week, needing to be eaten. For the dressing, I tossed some grapes, a wrinkled clementine and some olive oil in the blender. Turned out great.
Cookies, made from scratch with some macadamia nuts I found on clearance in Shipshewana.

Tuesday
Breakfast varied. Stephen and I ate eggs, as did Payge. Chayce had a cookie (with milk! I was upstairs tending to the baby as she fended for herself before I came down). Zac well, I uh, don't remember. I offerend him an egg...and then for some reason my mind is totally blank as to what he answered.

Lunch: Hard boiled eggs, and these yummy little mascarpone & orange things I had stuck in the freezer. Mmmmm. Oh, and carrot sticks.

Dinner: Chicken soup, using the water from the chicken I boiled for Sunday (that would be stock, right?), left over chicken pieces, carrots, garlic, bayleaves, and celery.
Home made tapioca pudding--easy peasy: 1 quart milk, 1/2 cup of tapioca soaked for a few hours (not the instant stuff), 1 C sugar, 2 tsp vanilla, three eggs. Boil first 2 ingredients til pearls are clear, then add the other stuff & boil til thick. Again...mmmmmmm.

My Newest Obsession

GINGER!!
Yes, I've been cooking with fresh ginger a lot lately, because, dang it. I like it. But wait, as I type, I realize I've been cooking not only with fresh, but powdered, dried & chocolate covered. Oh....well, I didn't cook with the chocolate covered ginger, I just ate it. (read the whole link there...chocolate covered ginger is good for your heart!*)

I made these cookies, and ate them...loved them... http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/triple-ginger-cookies-recipe.html

And then I made these... but I have to admit that adding a bit of chocolate makes them better. I know, I know, adding chocolate to a healthy cookie, what a shame (or a blessing?) http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/carrot-oatmeal-cookies-recipe.html
Oh, and I didn't have real maple syrup on hand, but I did have sorghum and it did taste just fine.

Oh, yeah, and then there is curry. With fresh ginger and coconut in it. Oh. Yum. Off to munch!!

From Whole Food's site:
*Dark chocolate — sorry, milk chocolate doesn't cut it — benefits many different aspects of heart health, including good circulation and antioxidant protection. As an added bonus, micronutrients, including magnesium and copper, are concentrated in dark chocolate. There are many varieties and flavors of high-quality dark chocolate available, both in our Grocery and Specialty departments.

• Ginger, a versatile herb common in ethnic dishes, boosts heart health by keeping cholesterol levels healthy and preventing the oxidation of LDL or "bad" cholesterol. Available fresh in our Produce department, ginger is a knobby root that is often peeled, and then added to sweet or savory dishes. Fresh ginger is also a wonderful addition to freshly pressed juices. Dried ginger, found in our bulk spices section, can be added to baked goods for a little extra spice. And don't forget that crystallized ginger or chocolate-covered ginger, available in the bulk section, make a wonderful snack.

The Dilemma is Over

I've been throwing ideas around for my children's education for awhile now. Montessori or homeschool? Back and forth. Of course, I sort of knew what I preferred, but wanted to leave myself options. I couldn't make myself admit I had a favorite until today. We got the letters from the Montessori school we applied to. There was a HUGE list of people who applied, and they told us that having two children applying would increase our chances. They also told us that due to affirmative action, our chances would be higher (lets just say that white seems to be a minority here). I'd been praying and praying that I would know what my children really needed. I finally decided that since I was having a hard time deciding, I would leave it up to the school administrators. If we got in, we'd go.

But then something happened.

I went to a homeschool support group here in South Bend. I loved it. I met people who had the same educational philosophies as me (not exactly, but just that our children deserve one-on-one for the education part, and the social can come from other places, like the play group!) But the Montessori school wasn't too bad as for ratios...8-1.

Anyhow. We got our letters from the school today. I didn't want to open them, but I was dumb & said, "Hey, Zac, the letters came today." And the result is......


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We did NOT get in. What's more, I cannot believe that I immediately squealed with delight!
First grade at home, here we come (yes, we did Kindergarten this year despite the fact that Zach missed the state impossed cut off date)!

Where I've Been

I haven't posted a lot lately, but I have lots to post about. We've been pretty busy, busy enough for my brain to yell "STOP!!!!"
And now, I am stopping. In fact, if all goes well, I get to go on a date with my darling husband to the Kronos Quartet!!! I am so excited!

Last week, our wonderful friends from Ithaca, NY came to visit. We took them to Amish country to experience a good meal, and shop in the bulk stores. It was fun. I was really surprised when Chayce requested a piece of "sour pie". I asked her what she meant and she said lemon or lime...yes, my daughter was requesting meringue. She's always been one to request the fruity stuff, rather than the rich chocolate or caramels her mother loves. Perhaps this is her secret to the 6-pack abs that she sports? ha ha

We've also been working on planning some church activities. I just finished with the RS birthday party last night. Whew! Glad it went so wonderfully. And, I wish I had pictures to show off how well my friend Shanda did on decorating the cake for us. It was the RS crest...beautiful. She even brought cupcakes.

Also, my sis-in-law is getting married in May. We found out in Feb. This gives us just enough time to plan the trip there, as Stephen wants to have his dissertation underway before we go as well.

Which leads me to another awesome update...Stephen has his dissertation committee formed and now we just wait for approval of everything and we can begin the process of the dissertation itself. YAY!

There are other things, I'm sure, that I've been doing, but at the moment must run off and get my kiddos ready for a play date. Ahhh, sunshine!!!

Happy Birthday Payge!

I promised I'd post some pictures of Payge on her birthday. I'm finally doing it.

With cake. I really thought she'd get messier.

The ice cream cone belongs to the doll...but Payge sucks on it. It's been almost two weeks and the doll still hasn't had a turn.

The Doll House

Our latest experiment! I took advantage of Hobby Lobby's regular 40% off coupon, and bought a doll house kit for $18. It was one with lots of fancy-shmancy detail work, that I didn't put together (why...so it could be ripped off soon anyway?) I did save the detail work, the opening and closing door, the bay window and the porch for another day, when they are older. My plan was this:
Build the base of the house, let them paint it however they wish, let them play with it until they get sick of it. Then, take it away. When they are older, I will allow them to refinish the house, add the detail work themselves, and learn the art of wall paper and carpet (because will any paint cover those colors?).


THEN, perhaps they can get some doll furniture. Hmmm. Nice.